Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker on Monday expressed frustration with the economic recovery’s slow pace and concern about the job market’s persistent weakness.

“Although the factors affecting the first-quarter slowdown…may prove temporary, the inability so far for the expansion to gain more traction has been frustrating,” Lacker said in prepared remarks at a conference about manufacturing in the American south.

Lacker, who isn’t a voting member on the Fed’s policy-setting committee this year, usually tends to worry more about inflation rising too much than high unemployment. His remarks Monday underscored the weakness in the job market but made no mention of inflation threats, signaling he is in no hurry to tighten the central bank’s easy-money policies.

As Luca notes, Mr. Lacker doesn’t have a policy vote this year. But to have one of the Fed’s most noted hawks changing his tune (for now, at least) is notable.

About MarketBeat

MarketBeat looks under the hood of Wall Street each day, finding market-moving news, analyzing trends and highlighting noteworthy commentary from the best blogs and research. MarketBeat is updated frequently throughout the day, helping investors stay on top of what’s happening in the markets. Lead writers Paul Vigna and Steven Russolillo spearhead the MarketBeat team, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Have a comment? Write to paul.vigna@wsj.com or steven.russolillo@wsj.com.

Global investment banks got a second-quarter revenue boost from a surge in Asian stock trading. But given China’s market volatility and stock declines in some other countries, those revenue gains may be hard to replicate.